UFC 303 — How Alex Pereira stepped up as soon as once more for the UFC

UFC LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT champion Alex Pereira and his coach, Plinio Cruz, have been making ready to board a aircraft from Newark, New Jersey, to Australia on the morning of June 3 once they noticed the identical information as everybody else within the struggle world. The UFC 303 information convention scheduled for later that day in Dublin, Eire, between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler to advertise their June 29 bout had been canceled. No purpose was given.

The information piqued Pereira and Cruz’s curiosity, however they did not give it a lot extra thought. He was about to embark on a two-week journey stuffed with appearances and seminars in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. And he was already booked to struggle Jiří Procházka in August at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia. Pereira’s crew was anticipating the UFC to announce the bout throughout his go to to the nation.

“We did not have a bout settlement, however the struggle was agreed on,” Pereira’s supervisor Jorge Guimarães advised ESPN. “[UFC chief business officer] Hunter Campbell knew we have been going to Australia and had mentioned, ‘Oh nice, we’ll reap the benefits of that and begin selling it whereas he is there.

“So, when Alex acquired to Australia, I texted Hunter and mentioned, ‘OK, he is there. We’re all set to announce.’ And Hunter acquired actually quiet for a number of days. That is once I mentioned, ‘Oh s—, one thing’s occurring.'”

Throughout the second week of Pereira’s go to, Guimarães obtained the decision he’d begun to suspect was coming. McGregor was out of UFC 303 as a consequence of damage and the promotion was scrambling for a substitute. On June 12, Campbell supplied Pereira a 205-pound title protection towards Procházka, who Pereira defeated by knockout at UFC 295 in November. Sarcastically, Pereira and Procházka crammed in for the primary occasion on that card as properly in New York Metropolis, when Jon Jones pulled out of a heavyweight headliner as a consequence of damage.

Guimarães referred to as Pereira and acquired a lukewarm response. UFC 303 was in 16 days and he was on the opposite facet of the world. He’d been coaching, however not struggle coaching. He wasn’t on a struggle food regimen. He additionally actually wished to headline the Perth card. Australia had given him a beautiful reception, and he beloved the concept of preventing Procházka there.

“Being there and attending to see the love of the followers, everyone screaming ‘Chama,’ everyone screaming my identify,” Pereira advised ESPN. “I began to think about myself in that area with everyone chanting my identify like that.”

Pereira’s crew by no means gave Campbell an outright “no,” however did point out they weren’t in love with the concept. The following day, Campbell referred to as once more. He understood their hesitancy, however the firm wanted Pereira to step up. McGregor’s withdrawal put the UFC in a bind. This wasn’t simply any pay-per-view. It was Worldwide Combat Week in Las Vegas. Behind McGregor’s identify, UFC 303 had already produced a $20 million gate, in response to UFC CEO Dana White, and the UFC Corridor of Fame ceremony and fan expo was scheduled that very same week.

Guimarães reached out to Pereira once more. By the top of the day, Pereira and the UFC had agreed on monetary phrases for the distinctive circumstances of the struggle and White introduced the brand new predominant occasion.

“I advised him, ‘Hey, Hunter is even interested by canceling the occasion, they do not have a predominant occasion,” Guimarães mentioned. “He mentioned to me, ‘Is that this for certain going to occur if I say sure?’ I knew then that he was keen to struggle as a result of his thoughts had already began engaged on whether or not to take an early flight again to the U.S.”

Finally, Pereira selected to meet his obligations in Australia and flew residence to Danbury, Connecticut, on June 16. That left one week of “camp,” earlier than he’d board one other aircraft for Las Vegas. He would even have little time to regulate to jet lag. And, in fact, the matter of creating championship weight.

“As soon as he agreed, I may see a large change in him,” Cruz advised ESPN. “We nonetheless honored our commitments in Australia, however within the quiet moments, there was quite a bit occurring in his head. It is quite a bit to course of in two weeks. However hey, you need to be a hero, you have to do heroic s—.”

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Excellent storm: How Pereira-Prochazka got here at proper time for UFC 303

Conor McGregor’s abrupt withdrawal from the UFC 303 predominant occasion has resulted in a well timed title rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka.

PEREIRA’S ENTIRE LIFE is a ballad of heroism.

He was born into poverty within the favelas of São Paulo, Brazil. At 17 years previous, certainly one of his older brothers died from drug use. He battled alcoholism throughout his teenagers and early 20s, solely managing to interrupt the habit by throwing himself into kickboxing, which he started coaching on the comparatively late age of 21. But he turned the primary kickboxer to carry GLORY titles in a number of weight courses concurrently and gained two UFC championships inside his first seven appearances within the promotion.

Behind the scenes, he is carried out loads of heroics already this yr.

Initially, Pereira’s 2024 was supposed to start out at UFC 301 on Might 4 in Rio de Janeiro. Pereira has by no means fought in his residence nation within the UFC and that occasion was a chance to test that field. Nonetheless, the promotion wanted a predominant occasion at UFC 300 and Pereira was the most suitable choice obtainable.

“Accessible” being the important thing phrase. He was keen to take a title struggle towards former champion Jamahal Hill on a timeline that was lower than preferrred.

“He is the one champion I see doing this,” Cruz mentioned. “Often, champions will say, ‘I would like this, I would like that. I want a couple of months off.’ Some need to choose their opponents. The benefit of Alex is that he is a kickboxer, and kickboxers struggle quite a bit. He is fought 3 times in a single month earlier than. That is simply the form of man he’s.”

Two weeks earlier than UFC 300 on April 13, Pereira broke his toe throughout a coaching session in Connecticut. Cruz was out of city for a commentary gig on the day it occurred. Pereira’s coaching companions referred to as Cruz, panicked in regards to the damage. Realizing Pereira so properly, Cruz was skeptical it could jeopardize the struggle, however he referred to as Pereira instantly to seek out out.

“I mentioned, ‘Bro, how’s your leg?'” recalled Cruz. “He simply modified the topic. I noticed a photograph of the toe and it was sticking in the other way, however he is only a savage, man. He is fought with a damaged foot, a torn meniscus. I do know when he is hurting, he is human in any case, but it surely goes together with the entire ‘Stone Face’ persona he has. He simply would not present it.”

Pereira went on to knock out Hill within the first spherical at UFC 300. Initially, he wished to struggle in Brazil so badly that he thought-about preventing at UFC 300 and UFC 301 in simply three weeks. However along with his damaged toe within the lead-up to UFC 300 and a second damaged toe suffered within the Hill struggle, there was no probability of turning round for UFC 301.

He nonetheless attended UFC 301 as a visitor fighter, nonetheless, and sat down with Campbell for a casual dinner assembly that week in Rio de Janeiro. Pereira wished to struggle once more as quickly as doable, however Campbell mentioned the UFC did not have any openings till October, maybe in Salt Lake Metropolis. Pereira objected as a result of ready till October seemingly meant he’d solely struggle twice in 2024.

Despite the fact that the UFC already had a stable middleweight title struggle between Dricus Du Plessis and Israel Adesanya deliberate for its August card in Perth, Campbell supplied Pereira the date. He accepted instantly.

“He turns 37 in July, he is aware of his clock is ticking,” Guimarães mentioned. “He desires to struggle. He desires as many large fights as doable.”

IN EARLY 2023, Pereira and Cruz flew to Lebanon for a sequence of appearances and coaching alternatives. One in every of their first stops was a small café in Beirut. Neither had posted something about their location on social media.

Inside 20 minutes, three young children approached their desk to ask Pereira for an autograph. The interplay despatched Cruz’s head spinning.

“The place did you youngsters come from?” Cruz requested. “Did you pop up from the bottom? How did you even know we have been right here?”

Pereira’s crew has at all times identified of his potential within the sport. His preventing model is extremely entertaining, and Guimarães believes his struggle intelligence exceeds the likes of Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire — Brazilian champions he and his enterprise accomplice, Ed Soares, have managed through the years.

This star energy, although? The way in which Pereira has resonated with followers on a world scale? That has been a shock. Followers mobbed Pereira at a UFC occasion in Toronto in January. He required safety at instances in Australia because of the measurement of crowds. Guimarães is within the strategy of renovating his residence in Bali this yr and has been frequenting retailers in a neighborhood village. He cannot consider what number of locals have approached him relating to his connection to Pereira.

“These individuals do not stay in poverty, but it surely’s an excellent humble lifestyle over right here,” Guimarães mentioned. “They see me in Alex’s shirt and can yell, ‘Alex Pereira!’ He is changing into well-known amongst individuals I by no means thought would have even seen MMA.”

Pereira will cap an eight-month stretch on Saturday through which he could have headlined the UFC’s annual megacard at Madison Sq. Backyard, its landmark UFC 300, and UFC 303 at Worldwide Combat Week, through which he stepped in for the largest star in MMA historical past in McGregor. UFC commentator and ESPN analyst Daniel Cormier not too long ago posed the query, ‘Is Alex Pereira the face of the UFC?’ Whether or not he’s or not, he is turn out to be arguably its most dependable champion.

Massive moments are likely to feed into even larger moments in fight sports activities, and Pereira has expressed an curiosity in ultimately testing the waters at heavyweight. He’s certainly one of 9 fighters who’ve gained UFC titles in two weight courses. Nobody has ever gained a championship in three. Jones, the defending heavyweight champion and biggest fighter of all time, has already mentioned a struggle between him and Pereira could possibly be “probably the most large struggle the UFC may make.”

One-to-two years in the past, the considered Jones vs. Pereira as the largest struggle in UFC historical past would have felt foolish. However this weekend, when Pereira carries an occasion that was alleged to be the return of McGregor, it will not really feel laughable. He has turn out to be the “large second” champion of the UFC. He is been keen to take dangers others will not, and his stardom is rising due to it.

Might it will definitely result in a heavyweight struggle towards Jones? That may be some heroism.

“He would not wish to get his thoughts too far forward, however I feel he would love that problem,” Cruz mentioned. “If we get to that time, I feel that is a struggle everybody concerned goes to need. It might be good for the complete sport.”